Site purchase next step for regional dispatch for Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, Norton

Paula Vogler | mansfield@wickedlocal.com

Wednesday

Aug 1, 2018 at 7:04 PM

The new regional dispatch center, which will serve Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield and Norton, hasn’t even opened yet, but already other communities are interested in possibly joining the district.

Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Communication Center (SEMRECC) will be located at the High Rock site in Foxborough.

SEMRECC Executive Director Rob Verdone recently gave an update on the project to officials from all four towns at the Mansfield Board of Selectmen meeting on July 25.

SEMRECC Chairman William Keegan, Foxborough’s town manager, and Verdone said there are already other nearby towns hoping to join the district.

“There are tremendous savings in annual operating costs,” Verdone said. “Every time we add a town we don’t have to increase the staff and this number will be further diluted.”

“A lot of communities out there are not ahead of this curve and are in fact way behind,” Keegan said.

Verdone talked about next steps, new technology that will be available when the center is up and running, and why the Foxborough site is preferred. The Mansfield police station was originally proposed for the center since Mansfield is moving its police and fire departments to a new public safety building next year.

Verdone said the Mansfield station would have had higher energy costs and greater construction risks because no one would know the state of the equipment or the building behind the walls until the actual construction started, and it would have to be updated to current building codes including seismic codes.

He said to move the project forward requires the SEMRECC Board of Directors’ approval to purchase the property at High Rock for a nominal fee less than $100.

The High Rock building, built in the 1960s to withstand a nuclear blast, was used to transport long distance telephone, television and Department of Defense communications.

Verdone said the 20,000-square-foot building is currently unoccupied, would be owned by the 911 district, has concrete reinforced walls and a 206-foot super heavy-duty microwave tower, the highest point in the four-town district. The site includes six acres.

“It’s built to standards we couldn’t even afford to touch today,” Verdone said. “It would meet (National Fire Protection Association) standards without doing anything and it’s big. We plan on mothballing a section of it until we need it.”

With the $1.5 million state grant for designs still in the coffers, Verdone said designers are just waiting for the green light to begin work.

Keegan said the state is “fully committed” to giving the $1.5 million grant because they view the district as a rising star among state projects.

Verdone said once the center is up and running the four towns would split the costs of salaries, benefits and operations evenly which would amount to roughly $550,000 to $580,000 per year rather than $800,000 to $1 million towns would pay each year if they were running their own dispatch centers.

Verdone said the center would incorporate all the latest technology for first responders to be able to use that would help them do their jobs quicker and more efficiently.

The most discussed feature, he said, would be the N911 system, or Next Generation 911, that would be able to handle all wireless phone calls.

Whereas now the a wireless call is routed first to state police and then to nearby towns, he said there is not enough staff to handle the 25 percent increase in call volumes when an incident occurs and multiple people call.

“We don’t have the depth of staff,” Verdone said. “We get two calls and we’re (totally knocked out).”

In addition there would be a dedicated wireless network for first responders called First Net that would allow them to exchange information with a speed and reliability he said was unheard of before.

When everyone starts texting and communicating after a disaster, First Net would prioritize and pre-empt all other wireless traffic except first responders’.

Verdone said he has received his First Net device in the mail and it is working great.

Norton selectmen Chairman Robert Kimball said other communities are going to look at the district and think they should do the same.

“I think overall this is the best solution,” Kimball said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do and what we can save.”

Keegan said there would be other multiple opportunities for the towns to talk about working together on in the future.

“That’s the reality of today and will be the reality of tomorrow,” Keegan said.